How to Create Additional Marketing Content From a Single Video

You’ve got a great video. You’ve invested a lot of time in it — and money. But is there anything else that you can do with this video now that you have it? In fact, there’s quite a lot. Once you have an archive of video, you can use it in a multitude of different ways. There’s a tremendous advantage to reusing your media like this. Not only are you going to save money (by avoiding the production of additional media), but you’ll also create a more cohesive idea of your site’s brand.

So, now that you’ve got that video, what do you do with it?

Extract Still Images for Posters, Ads, and Other Promotions

This is the easiest way you can produce additional media from your video. Comb through your video for the best, most visually attractive scenes — and then export high-resolution screen captures as still images. You can use these images in a variety of ways: for posters, ads, and other promotions.

It’s likely that you did a lot of staging to produce your video, in addition to creating set pieces and scenery that are truly dramatic. These scenes may be brief in your video, but will really shine when used as a still image. Still images can also be used to decorate your site, blog posts, and articles, all of which will ultimately emphasize and extend your company’s branding.

If you’re planning on pulling images out of your video, you need to be careful about how you shoot. If motion blur is introduced, many of your frames may be blurry or indistinct. High resolution filming is often necessary to create clear, usable still images.

Explain the Video in a Blog Post (Or Post a Transcript)

In addition to posting the video on social media, take the time to write an accompanying blog post about its content. Consider inserting a transcript from the video, as well. One of the only downsides to a video is that it can’t be easily search engine optimized, because its content is not in text form. A transcript will ensure that your video can be found even through a text search.

By accompanying your video with a blog, you can extend the reach of your content. Those who don’t have time to watch the video may still have time to peruse the blog, or may want to review a blog before committing to watching the video. There are many times when someone might be in public and unable to watch a video, but they still want a broad overview of it.

This is also an easy way to build out your content library in general: something that’s vital for any content marketing campaign.

Take Audio Tracks for Advertisements or Podcasts

Pull the audio tracks from your video, edit them for quality, and use them for advertisements and podcasts. You can pull specific quotes from the video that you love, and play them during your ads. When you pull your audio track from a video, it isn’t immediately obvious that it’s the same content that’s been seen before; it’s in a different context and being perceived in a different way.

Today, there are tons of podcasts out there that could relate to your business. If you work your audio tracks into a compelling ad, you can sponsor a podcast or run your ad during their ad breaks. You can even insert your advertisements into your own podcasts and updates. Once you have a few solid audio advertisements, you can mix-and-match them to keep them new and compelling.

Of course, that also means that you need to make sure your audio is clean and clear. One of the biggest mistakes people make when creating a professional video is not capturing clear, professional audio. Audio is as important as video, even if it may seem more subtle and unobtrusive.

Use as Additional Footage or B-Roll for Other Videos

When you create a video, you often have extra video left over. You may have establishing shots or scenes that just didn’t make it into the final cut, or you might have scenes that are in the final cut but are fairly universal. You can use any additional footage or versatile footage you have for b-roll for other videos. This lets you get additional value for the cost of your video production, in a very direct way: you can plan the scenes of your next video around what you still need.

Universal footage such as establishing shots can be used multiple times. Shots can also be modified a little in post, to make them feel unique. Over time, you’ll be able to build up a significant content library, which can be used time and time again. This will reduce the production time for your future videos, and make it possible to create videos both cost-effectively and expediently.

Produce Slides and Presentations for Internal and External Meetings

Video gives you fantastic content for slides and presentations. Pull out clips of the video and images from the video to jazz up an otherwise dull presentation, or to form the basis of an argument or statement. As an example, parts of a training video could be used in a presentation about how the company is addressing employee safety.

Both internal and external presentations can be rendered in this way. External, public-facing presentations are able to use professional video to further the company’s brand, while also keeping the audience engaged. Presentations tend to sit better with an audience if they are able to latch onto visual media, and a video is one of the most engaging forms of media available.

Create GIFs That Can Be Shared on Social Media

Take clips from your videos, add text, and convert them to a GIF — suddenly you have something that is supremely shareable. As noted before, many people are browsing in a location where they can’t watch a video. But a GIF can be watched by anyone, anywhere. There’s a reason why GIFs remain so incredibly popular on social media: because they are unobtrusive and easy to watch.

Ideally, a GIF shouldn’t be longer than a minute. They should be impactful, containing the most important parts of your video. And they should have clear text, so the action of the GIF can be understood. There are entire social media empires that owe their success to GIFs. Of course, to really be able to capitalize on GIFs, you also need active social media accounts.

Launch Infographics Based on the Data Presented in the Video

Take the data discussed in your video and create an infographic. From there, you can link the infographic from the video, to further your video’s reach. Many of these alternative uses for your video will also bolster the popularity of your video. Blogs, slides, and infographics can all promote the video, encouraging users to view it if they want more information.

An infographic is one of the best ways to display complex information, and can be used as a review after your audience has watched the video. Consider making interactive infographics if you want to further increase engagement. Interactive infographics react to the user’s actions, letting them get additional information when they want to.

Pull Content for Other Advertisements or Testimonial Videos

In addition to using establishing shots or scenes in other videos, you can also cut the video down to very important moments, creating shorter clips for each video. These clips are more “shareable” than a whole video, giving the general gist of the video rather than asking the audience to commit to the entire thing. Once your clips have been viewed, your audience will have a better idea of what to expect.

One way to take advantage of clips is to build testimonial videos. If your ad includes a personal testimonial, you can pull that testimonial out and create a single, shorter video from it. In this way, you really get two videos (or more) for the price of one, because the testimonial isn’t going to pull traffic from the original.

With this in mind, you can also shoot with the idea that some of your content is going to be pulling “double duty.” When writing your script, concentrate on universal scenes that can be used in other advertisements or for testimonial videos. You may be able to shoot two or three videos at once by consolidating scenes and attempting to reuse as much material as possible.

Key Takeaways: Your Video is a Permanent Asset

When you begin creating video, you’re really creating digital assets that are going to last you a long time to come. You are building out your content library and making it possible to continually produce new media.

There are dozens of ways that you can use and reuse video: these are only a few of the most popular ones. Any time you have well-made media, you can reuse that media in a variety of ways. You can include it in other videos, create completely different media out of it, or build media around it. All of these options will retain and extend your value.